One month to go!

Here we are -- Yoni and I sitting on our new Toshiba laptops planning out various details for our upcoming trip. So far I will try to update you readers on what we have decided;

the Ecuador airport in Quito is called: Quito Mariscal Sucre (UIO)

We will be leaving August 24, 2009 from Seatac International Airport at 6:05AM heading to Chicago O'Hara (ORD) which will land at approximately 11:55AM (central standard time). Then after a short one hour layover we head from Chicago at 12:55PM to Miami (MIA), with an approximate arrival time of 5:08PM (eastern standard time). Then after another fun layover in Miami we head to QUITO ECUADOR (UIO) at 5:55 PM (eastern standard time) and arrive in South America at 8:55 PM (equator time).

We have now paid our program fees for the volunteer program (IE: living situations, meals etc.) and are looking at purchasing travelers insurance. The volunteer agency is based in New Zealand and is run by Daniel Radcliffe (not Harry Potter). They place place over 1500 people into a wide range of volunteer travel opportunities in Kenya, Kenya-Maasai, Tanzania, Ghana, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru - Cusco, Peru - Lima and Thailand and starting 2009-2010 plans to open new programs in Bolivia, Mexico, Philippines, China and South Africa.

http://www.volunteerhq.org/

In Quito we will be living with a host family and volunteering at an orphanage on the weekdays. Here we will be teaching English to the students. We start our work on August 27 and volunteer for three weeks until September 17. On September 18-20 we plan to go to the beach (Bahia de Caraquez) for some nice hot weather and relaxation before we return to the US on September 21.

Here is the description of our volunteer work:

Similarly to other Latin American nations, Spanish is the official language of Ecuador, however in recent times with the onset of globalisation and increasing tourism in a country such as Ecuador, there has been an increased demand from local people to be taught English by fluent foreigners. Work is mainly at schools and directed towards children but there is also a lot of demand from community groups and adult groups we work with. Volunteers are placed in community schools, public schools or orphanage schools. Many of the people volunteers teach have only very basic English, therefore it is a requirement for volunteers to have at least a beginner-basic level of Spanish to teach on this program. Naturally a volunteer's Spanish will improve over the course of their volunteering but it is highly recommended that the volunteer take advantage of the Spanish lessons offered by our program staff in Ecuador. N.B. Volunteers DO NOT need to be a qualified or experienced teacher.

The journey home:
We venture back to the Northern Hemisphere on September 21st starting at 9:00AM (equator time) and arriving in Miami at 2:05PM (eastern standard time). Then from Miami we head to Chicago at 6:05PM and arrive at 8:25 (central standard time). We leave Chicago at 9:20PM and arrive back in Seattle at 11:40PM!!

That's it for now! We are planning a dessert auction before we leave (probably sometime around Yoni's birthday on August 21st) to help raise money for new clothes for the children at the orphanage that we will be volunteering at in Quito.

¡Hasta pronto!

--Hanne